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My Life Thus Far.... Toronto and beyond

53K views 387 replies 28 participants last post by  christos-greece 
#1 ·
Okay, it's been a long time since my old Hot off the Press photothread, so maybe time to start a new one. I'll post current photos, and also some old memories too. Not only life here, but other places I go, too. Today it turned cold and I do believe we had a light frost downtown. Last week I was a bit lazy and I missed the peak of the colours.. only took a couple off the balcony. Look at the difference a week makes:


Last week:





Today:






Last week:






today:









Anyway, the temperatures dropped and it felt cold and damp. Went out on my bike in search of beautiful Autumn colours. Not as resplendent as last week, but there are still gorgeous colours there for those who look:







First stop, I checked out Manulife's beautiful tribute to our Canadian war veterans. As my dad fought in WWII, I like to take some time around
this year to pause and think about the sacrifices that were made on our behalf by brave soldiers:

























































Frost can't have been that deep:







 
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#9 ·
Great to have you back posting, Greg!

I love the change in scale between domestic and skyscraper that you find in Toronto. Would you mind if I used a couple of your photos for the purposes of illustration on another SSC thread? Credited, of course!
 
#12 ·
Thanks so much, everyone!! Sorry I didn't check in for a few days, but I didn't think anyone would be looking at my pics! :clown:


Of course, Jane! Please feel free! We are lucky in downtown Toronto as we have many lovely Victorian residential streets and areas that are walking or a short bike ride from the
central business district. I live on one of those charming old streets and they feel like leafy little oases in the heart of the city. I have taken some more pics since, but haven't had time to post them. We had a bit of a slushy snowfall this evening; I looked off my balcony and it looks pretty but it is messy and slushy out:










 
#13 ·
Chicago got the snow yesterday, and New York City has been shut down by two inches of snow today! :eek:
It is not abnormal for this sort of thing to happen in November in this part of the world. Too bad it hadn't happened on this
upcoming Sunday, as it is the 114th annual Santa Claus Parade here in Toronto. Astonishingly in this high tech day and age,
the parade is still immensely popular. Half a million people crowd downtown to see it, and University Avenue is lined with throngs
of excited children waiting to see Santa on his sleigh at the end of the parade. Unfortunately this snow will mostly be melted
by then, but it would have been perfect.




A few more photos I took at the beginning of the week:
















































































 
#21 ·
It is a decorative perennial plant here and would not survive the winter; they get planted in the spring and die when we get a hard frost. In the summer here you will see tropical flowers like Hibiscus in the gardens but they are not meant to survive the winter. We are the climatic borderline for flowering Japanese Somei-Yoshino cherry trees; any colder than here and they will not bloom.









Magnolias grow here, but the tulip type:










The only place in Canada that the Southern Magnolia will grow is in Vancouver or Victoria. Cactus will grow here and survive the winters, but they must be types that are native to Ontario:














We have Rhododendrons and Azaleas, but they do not grow as lushly and luxuriantly as they would in the UK or coastal British Columbia. This is as tall as they grow here in Toronto:

















There are many unexpected things in Toronto that you would not think
to find here; for example every October the salmon swim upstream to spawn:











This city is like an onion; you have to peel back the layers to get at the core. People who visit only for a few days just see the tip of the iceberg! And no, we
don't really have icebergs here! :D
 
#23 ·
Those statues are from Northern China, and were bought by the first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology of the Museum, Charles Trick Currelly, in 1922 from the Austrian government that had them outside their building in Beijing:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM9KVZ_Royal_Ontario_Museum_northernmost_Chinese_Lion_Toronto_ON










The Rotunda just inside those doors is exquisite, with it's groin-vaulted ceiling covered with tiny gold, and other colours mosaic tiles.
In 1933 they imported thousands of sheets of Venetian glass, and painstakingly cut out more than a million tiny mosaic tiles and affixed
them over an eight month period to the groin vault, and was intended to recall the splendours of the Byzantine and Eastern European world.
I took this quote from the link below:

"Each of the sixteen pictorial images on the ceiling and adjacent niches symbolizes a different culture throughout history. In this photo, we see a magical elephant representing India; a three-clawed dragon, representing China; a heraldic griffin of Gothic art; and a Mesopotamian ziggurat"

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/jonathan.cohen/29959185














Light clearly is streaming through in my 2007 photo:











I've got photos somewhere of the beautifully inlaid marble floor
but can't find them. If you are interested how they restored this
84 year old entrance, read the following CBC article:



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...newly-restored-84-year-old-entrance-1.4445018
 
#26 ·
^^ Thanks, all! If I get a chance I go out to Old Mill to watch them jump the ladder on the Humber River, but it is kind of hard to get the timing perfect.
Last night we walked downtown to have dinner; nice clear night. Went down Yonge Street, which is an eclectic mix of Victorian/Edwardian/mid century and high rise architecture:



















































and coming back we walked up Church Street:









a new "Nerd Bar" opened in an old 1870's house; certainly has lots of
atmosphere! :D








Some of the old turn of the century apartment buildings in my neighbourhood:



 
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